Arunachal woman scribe shot, battling for life

An unidentified gunman shot senior Arunachal Pradesh journalist Tonggam Rina from behind in Itanagar Sunday evening. Tonggam, 34, was battling for her life at the Ramkrisha Mission Hospital.

Eyewitnesses said an assailant crept up from behind when Tonggam, associate editor of Arunachal Times and president of Arunachal Pradesh Working Journalists’ Union, exited her office. The man fled before people nearby could raise an alarm.

Doctors at the hospital said the bullet, lodged in Tonggam’s abdomen, damaged her spine.

"She is in a very critical condition," a senior doctor said.

"We can only pray for her," said Eastern Sentinel editor Jarpum Gamlin, adding the assault on a woman was against tribal culture but underscored the deteriorating law and order in the frontier state bordering China.

The apparent cause of the mishap appears to be the newspaper's recent investigation on public distribution system anomalies.